(The Center Square) — Greece announced on Friday it has agreed to purchase a minimum of 700 million cubic meters of liquified natural gas annually for the next 20 years from U.S. supplier Venture Global, in a move aimed at strengthening energy supply chains in western Europe.
“Fortunately, in the United States we have an amazing abundance of natural gas,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright at the Transatlantic Energy Cooperation conference in Athens on Thursday. “I think we have a tremendous opportunity right now to displace all of the Russian gas — all of it, every last molecule — from western Europe.”
Greece ranked as the eighth biggest importer of U.S. LNG among European nations in 2024. Greece’s imports of U.S. LNG totaled 58,747 million cubic feet in 2024, with more than 46 million cubic feet, or 78%, of the total gas shipped from terminals located in Cameron Parish and Sabine Parish in Louisiana.
The deal between Arlington, Virginia-based Venture Global and a partnership of AKTOR and DEPA Commercial, the state-owned natural gas company of Greece, is the country’s first ever long-term supply agreement for LNG. Under the agreement, the Greek partnership has the option to expand annual purchases to 2 billion cubic meters.
“We believe very strongly that to ensure the stability, the peace and the prosperity of the region we need to totally phase out Russian gas, and I think this is one of the areas the European Union and the U.S. see eye-to-eye,” said Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou at the Thursday conference.
In September 2024, Venture Global took a 25% stake in the Alexandroupolis LNG import terminal in Greece, which feeds the so-called South-North “Vertical Corridor,” an integrated system of pipelines designed to facilitate the flow of natural gas to countries that include Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Hungary and Ukraine.
“Venture Global is thrilled to expand our energy partnership with Greece and bring additional LNG supply to this critical region, building on our previous investment in the vertical corridor through the Alexandroupolis terminal,” Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said in a statement.
“As a major point of entry for U.S. LNG into central and eastern Europe, this strategically important infrastructure and SPA agreement are key to strengthening the region’s ability to diversify their energy mix and access a secure and reliable source of supply,” Sabel said.
Venture Global’s three LNG projects — Calcasieu Pass, Plaquemines LNG and the CP2 facility now under construction — are all located along the Louisiana coast.
In October, the Department of Energy issued the final non-Free Trade Agreement authorization required before exports can begin at Venture Global’s CP2 facility in Cameron Parish. Venture Global is developing carbon capture and sequestration projects at each of its LNG facilities.
Greece has imported 59,386 million cubic feet of LNG from the U.S. this year through August and is on pace to exceed 2022 totals, when American shipments to the country exceeded 69 million cubic feet, Department of Energy data shows.
Shipments sent to Greece accounted for about 1.3% of all U.S. LNG exports in 2024, according to energy department data.
